There is a kind of magic that happens when you stumble upon a TV show that you really love. Sometimes, these productions appear in our lives by chance, or via a friend’s recommendation, but after a few episodes, we get completely caught up in its story and characters. So much so, that waiting patiently for each new episode and then discussing it with friends or on social networks becomes quite a ritual. With each season, the show gradually grows into our daily lives, until it turns into one of the TV series we recommend every time a friend runs out of shows to watch.

However, all of this can be easily frustrated, as networks decide to abruptly cancel shows for a variety of reasons, leaving audiences in the lurch. Thus, series with enormous potential, such as Freaks and Geeks or Sense8, were canceled before their time, triggering a great deal of confusion and anger among fans. Of course, fans are not the only people who suffer from this: everyone who was involved in the production, from its director to the cast and crew, loses their jobs as a result of these cancelations, which are often justified due to low ratings and other reasons, but not always.

Generally, when a show gets canceled there is little else to do but mourn. Still, some TV series have been lucky enough to get one more chance to stay on air thanks to another network recognizing the show’s potential. Here are eight stories of shows that got a second chance from a new network.

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8 The Mindy Project

     NBCUniversal Television Distribution

The Mindy Project is one of Mindy Kaling’s most successful TV series. She stars as Mindy Lahiri, a gynecologist with a rising career, but a sloppy personal life and no luck at finding love, who decides to change her bad habits to feel better and find the man of her dreams. This series premiered on Fox in 2012, running on the network for three seasons. Eventually, Fox felt the show wasn’t performing as well as they had hoped, so they ended up canceling it. Thankfully, Hulu ultimately decided to commission three more seasons of the show, which wrapped up in 2017.

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY

7 Arrested Development

     20th Television / Netflix

This Mitchell Hurwitz sitcom is centered on the Bluths, a very dysfunctional and wealthy family that is now in financial trouble. Starring Jason Bateman, it aired on Fox from 2003 to 2006, spanning three seasons. Yet, despite being a critically praised production, Arrested Development was not as well received as expected, so the network pulled the plug. Seven years later, Netflix revisited the series and delivered two new seasons, maintaining the original cast and wrapping up in 2019.

6 Scrubs

     ABC

Zach Braff, Sarah Chalke, Donald Faison, Neil Flynn, Ken Jenkins, John C. McGinley, and Judy Reyes star in Scrubs, Bill Lawrence’s sitcom that follows the day-to-day lives of the workers at Sacred Heart Hospital. The series premiered in 2001 and ran for seven seasons on NBC until its cancelation due to low ratings. ABC then decided to pick it up and released an eighth season in 2009, which would serve as the series’ finale. A ninth and final season was eventually released, but as the network switch also failed to improve metrics, Scrubs went off the air in 2010.

5 Project Runway

     Lantern Entertainment

Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn host and mentor Project Runway, the reality TV series in which contestants battle it out week by week to win enough cash to start their own design line, a feature spread in Marie Claire magazine, and a mentorship from a fashion design firm. It first aired in December 2004 on Bravo, and remained on the network until 2008. It then went on to run on Lifetime for 11 seasons, returning to Bravo in 2019 for an additional three. The latter seasons, however, did not feature Klum and Gunn, both of whom were working on a different project. Instead, they were replaced by Karlie Kloss and Christian Siriano.

4 Gilmore Girls

     Warner Bros. Television Distribution

Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel star in Gilmore Girls as Lorelai and Rory, a young mother and daughter living in Stars Hollow, Connecticut. This series, created by Amy Sherman-Palladino, first premiered on The WB in 2000, and ran for six popular seasons before moving to The CW after The WB merged with UPN. Its seventh and final season was produced there, premiering in 2007. Nine years later, Netflix picked up the show for a four-episode special called Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life.

3 Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is one of the many examples of how important it is to give a series its chance to really find its essence. This police procedural comedy TV series created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur premiered on Fox in 2013, starring Andy Samberg and Andre Braugher. It follows Jake Peralta, an irresponsible but effective detective from Brooklyn’s 99th Precinct, and his day-to-day life alongside his partners and the on-site commanding officer, Captain Raymond Holt (Braugher). Brooklyn Nine-Nine ran for five seasons on Fox until it got canceled, but fortunately, NBC stepped in to save the day, granting the series another three seasons.

2 Buffy the Vampire Slayer

     20th Television

Sarah Michelle Gellar stars in Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Buffy Summers, a teenager gifted with the ability to fight the vampires and dark forces haunting our society. This show, now a cult classic, was inspired by the 1992 film of the same name, and created by Joss Whedon. Its first five seasons aired on The WB from 1997 to 2001. Later on, Buffy the Vampire Slayer switched networks, and aired its last two seasons on UPN.

1 Lucifer

     Netflix

Tom Ellis stars in Lucifer, Tom Kapinos’ TV series based on the DC Comics character by Neil Gaiman, Sam Kieth and Mike Dringenberg. Dead tired of hell and sick of his own existence, Lucifer moves to Los Angeles to discover what the mortal world has to offer. Once there, he leverages his specialized skills and becomes a contributor to the LAPD. This show premiered on Fox in 2015, but the network canceled it after only three seasons. One month later, Netflix granted the show an additional three seasons to air on their platform, running from 2019 to 2021.